2019 Innovative Initiative Winner Profile: Boston Children's Hospital
In June, we held our inaugural Innovators' Breakfast to celebrate 100% Talent Compact signers advancing women in the workplace through innovative initiatives and effective practices. Following a competitive application process, we reviewed dozens of submissions by diverse employers in size and in industry.
Boston Children’s Hospital’s initiative was recognized for the innovation and impact on time to promotion for women. The internal mobility program was part of a targeted group of initiatives aimed at proactively engaging and retaining internal talent by encouraging, assessing and facilitating upward and lateral movement across the Boston Children’s Enterprise. BWWC Marketing & Events Manager, Joana Ortiz, sat down with the Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH) team to learn more.
Initiative: Internal Mobility Program “Inside Track”
Category: Decreasing the time to promotion for women
Industry: Healthcare & Social Assistance
Interviewed: Kathy Lind - Manager, Talent Acquisition | Joanne Hogan - Senior Internal Mobility Ambassador | Kate French - Senior Talent Acquisition Coordinator*
*For the purposes of this interview, we will refer to each response from the team as “BCH”
*Want to read the all winner profiles in one place? Download our 2019 Winner Profile booklet by filling out the form at the bottom of this page.
JO: Tell us more about your Internal Mobility Program. How does it intersect with with other initiatives?
BCH: The genesis of the program came from our Leadership Forum. Over 300 Boston Children’s Hospital C-Suite to manager-level leaders who meet on a quarterly basis developed various task force groups, including the Career Advancement Task Force. In last fall’s gathering, the Task Force came up with various ideas and asked: “What if we focused on our own talent? We would be able to reduce turnover and help grow individuals throughout the organization.” At Boston Children’s Hospital, we focus on our own talent and encourage the advancement of our employees at all levels. We received approval to dedicate a full-time Internal Mobility Recruiter in January and established a team dedicated to this program.
Ellen Rothstein (left) meets Mayor Walsh at a special reception for 2019 Innovative Initiatives winners
The program immediately took off after its informal roll-out in April, and gained an enthusiastic response. We have so far received tremendous support and active participation from employees and hiring managers. Following our formal launch, Internal Mobility (IM) held info sessions for managers and employees to educate and share their insight and experiences with the program. Currently, we have facilitated 18 cross-functional transfers in the enterprise. These employees could have had an established career at BCH for many years in the same position, and we are here to help them overcome hurdles and open up avenues to new career paths.
JO: All of the initiatives come from the top down. Can you expand on the process of implementation? How did this come to the attention of leaders in the Forum?
BCH: As part of our efforts to maintain and improve our culture and remain the #1 pediatric hospital in the country, Boston Children’s conducts yearly employee surveys. Over the years, the surveys have revealed that employees are looking for more support and opportunities around career advancement and development. When the Career Advancement Task Force was formed, they reviewed this feedback and proposed an internal mobility initiative. The Internal Mobility program aspires to improve engagement in the organization, reduce turnover, and empower employees to take control of their careers at BCH.
BCH Team (L to R): Kristen Ward, Ellen Rothstein, & Joanne Hogan meet Mayor Walsh at a special reception for 2019 Innovative Initiatives winners
As part of our information sessions, we have invited panels of employees and managers to share their internal mobility stories. These stories provide depth and vision, and inspire employees and managers to participate in the program. In addition to the Career Advancement Task Force’s background work, we have continued to research the internal mobility field. We have discovered through networking with other organizations with Internal Mobility initiatives (such as Deloitte, Apple, and Teach for America) that we are at the forefront of this emerging field. What we have found is that many companies are aware of the need in this work, but few have been able to dedicate the resources. Our goal is to reduce the time to fill, reduce training time, and ultimately increase the quality of patient care that we deliver.
JO: How is this scalable for others interested in implementing something like this?
BCH: Organizations will need to analyze key metrics such as engagement, turnover, and employee satisfaction. This information is valuable for senior leadership in order to build a successful internal mobility program. Including other relevant market statistics such as the unemployment rate will bolster the case for internal mobility. Even if a dedicated resource is not feasible, you can still make an impact through grassroots efforts. If managers start talking about internal mobility with their teams and focusing on internal applicants, things can change. Implementing an internal mobility program requires a mindshift on behalf of the talent acquisition team and managers throughout the enterprise.
JO: It sounds like you’re really changing the organization’s culture through this initiative. Tell me about what you’ve learned in the implementation process.
BCH: We are incredibly fortunate that we have the resources to dedicate a Full Time Employee to internal mobility and brand the program - the Inside Track. Our internal mobility team is excellent at leveraging our current resources. Our costs for what we have achieved are incredibly low. We have collaborated with exceptional networking groups, made by and for BCH employees, who have been instrumental partners. By utilizing our existing resources, we have been able to attain a high return on investment with relatively low costs.
“With the dedicated support of our program we can help employees convey their stories, creating new pathways for opportunities. We’re excited to be their advocate!”
JO: It also sounds like there is a lot of passion involved. What have you learned in this process?
BCH: We are very passionate about this initiative, which has begun to reshape the profile of what a typical successful candidate looks like! Internal mobility is a team effort. We are using our own human resources partners (Talent Acquisition, HR Business Partners, Workforce Development, Organizational Learning & Performance Development) to advocate for the internal candidate. Internal candidates are positioned to deliver endless advantages fueled by their established experiences and knowledge. With the dedicated support of IM we can help them convey their “stories,” creating new pathways for opportunities. We’re excited to be their advocate!
JO: What does next year look like?
BCH: We’re curious what the future will bring as our program matures. As we assist more employees, the team will be able to identify gaps and understand our demographics, especially those who are not utilizing the program. This information will ensure we are reaching all internal talent. Going forward, our goal is also to successfully diversify cross-functional placements in order to broaden the options for employees. We hope to see increased engagement scores and decreased turnover, supporting the progression of internal mobility at Boston Children’s Hospital. Ultimately, our goal is to expand the opportunities for our employees while decreasing the time to promotion.
About the Initiative:
The Internal Mobility program, “Inside Track,” was created to proactively engage and retain internal talent by encouraging, assessing, and facilitating upward and lateral movement across the enterprise. This program will help current employees with partner with internal candidates, hiring managers, Talent Acquisition, and additional enterprise stakeholders to assist employees and managers to better match and track internal candidates to potential roles.
Learn more about Boston Children's Hospital by clicking here.
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Download our 2019 Winner Profile booklet by filling out the quick form below.
